Jobs and Gates got the tech headlines. So did the joint venture between YouTube and Apple (AAPL) TV.
But, Google (GOOG) released the star application, one which is likely to change the way that software is used on PCs. After dozens of new products ranging from Google Finance to Google Earth, the company has finally come up with something of real value beyond its search and text advertising platforms.
Google Gears will make a number of software programs that are currently web-based able to run on PCs when they are not connected to the internet. These will eventually include Google’s news reader, Gmail, spreadsheet, and word processing application.
Perhaps more important, the underlying software will be open-source so that any technology firm can add new software or applications to the package. Some large tech companies including Adobe (ADBE) which makes the popular Flash software, are already partners in the new program.
The New York Times quotes one analyst: “The whole idea of extending browser capabilities to offline is something that a lot of people are going to get pretty excited about,” said David Mitchell Smith, a vice president at Gartner Research.
The new initiative certainly challenges Micorosoft’s lead in desktop software applicationswhich are downloaded and run on the PC instead of being web based. But, perhaps more important, it demonstrates that, of the dozens of projects Googe has incubated, one or more are coming to market with a broad and perhaps, revenue-producing future.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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